News from PARWCC!
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News from PARWCC!
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Coaching Parents
During my tenure as a career coach, some parents of young adults (coachees) have hired me to provide career coaching and professional résumé development for their children. Sometimes they gift coaching services and résumé development to their young adult children for a birthday, holiday, or graduation. Other times, they recognize that their coachee is struggling with the job search.
I have held coaching sessions with young adult job seekers with the parent present. Parents have also contacted me to ask about their child’s progress and to work with me.
Some parents have contacted me directly to ask how to get their young adult engaged in job search and career management.
Job Boards & Spreadsheets
One common thread is the use of spreadsheets and job boards. Most young adults searching for a new or first-time professional job rely on job boards and maintain spreadsheets of the hundreds of jobs they have applied for online.
Almost all young adults in this category not only do not network or build relationships with others; they avoid it.
Helicopter Parents
So, an interesting phenomenon is taking center stage: The parents of young adult job seekers or workers are either managing their job searches for them or trying to manage their jobs. Let me explain.
A Wall Street Journal article from August 2, 2026, titled “Helicopter Parents Are Co-Piloting Their Children’s Careers” states that parents are writing their résumés and applying for jobs for their young adult children, they are sitting just off screen during their online interviews and feeding them interview responses, they are contacting people on their behalf for networking, they are accompanying them to in-person job interviews, they are calling HR to discuss benefits, they are accompanying them to job fairs and doing the talking, they are calling their managers to insist that their performance ratings are adjusted upward, and they are calling employers to ask them to rehire their young adult children after they were fired.
The article states that: “Recruiters and other HR types say that aggressive parental involvement signals a lack of independence and raises fears that mom and dad will be checking in regularly if the kid gets hired.”
Many employers now hire young adult workers for part-time roles to ensure they show up on time. If they progress well, employers will add more hours to their workweeks. Other employers hire young adults on a temporary 1099 basis to determine whether the position is a good fit for the employer and the young adult.
Coaching Parents
As a career coach, consider adding career coaching for parents of young adults to your service list. Parents may purchase coaching for their young adult children as a gift, and you may include a couple of coaching sessions for the parents in addition to the career management coaching and services provided to the young adult. Leverage the same career coaching proficiencies, the pillars of career coaching, from the Certified Professional Career Coach program.
Create Awareness
To coach parents so that they help their young adult children in their job search rather than control their career management plan, begin by asking questions to create awareness:
- What would have happened if your parents attended a job interview with you when you were job searching for your first professional role?
- What was the job search like for you?
- What value do you believe you are providing your young adult child by controlling their job search?
- What is your purpose in applying for jobs or attending the interview for your young adult child?
- What can you do for your young adult child to help them in their career management and job search, rather than perform all functions for them?
Brainstorming
Next, brainstorm options. Ask the parent if they are open to discussing options and engaging in brainstorming:
- Is there someone you know whom you can refer your young adult child to create opportunities to learn about internships or entry-level positions? Perhaps an uncle, aunt, colleague, or former colleague. This is much more effective than cold calling on LinkedIn. (I reached out to people via social media to help my young adult child find a job.)
- Have you asked your young adult child if he/she reached out to his/her alumni/career center services office?
- Has the coachee reached out to their social media network or community social media page? People are often aware of real jobs versus fake postings on job boards, or postings that were filled months ago but are still posted online.
- Could you sit alongside your “coachee” as they apply for a position of interest, rather than applying for them?
- Could you help your coachee prepare for job interviews by asking them questions and recording their responses? Then ask them for a debriefing after an interview, rather than sitting off-screen during the interview to feed them responses?
- Can you help your coachee research job postings, learn about Application Tracking Systems, and AI?
- Could you encourage your coachee to send his résumé to a colleague of yours for advice on the résumé content to obtain edits/comments? The email should come from the coachee, not the parent.
Wearing the Consultant Hat
There will be times when you will need to wear the Consultant/Trainer Hat and teach or inform the parent about current-day career management.
- Be honest and explain the current job market. It is very challenging, and it takes time. Today, employees are “job-hugging,” so it is an employer’s market. Recruiters receive hundreds, if not thousands, of résumés for a position. In most cases, they filter and sort them before a human reads them.
- The coachee may want to take a part-time retail or food service position until they can secure a first-time professional role. Employers respect young adults who show initiative and hold a job. It builds initial skill sets (customer service, written and oral communication, discipline, integrity, responsibility, and discipline-oriented skills) and sets them up for business.
- Explain that networking is not asking for a job. Instead, building relationships and reaching out to people is a stronger job-search tactic. Encourage your young adult child to attend community meetings, events, job fairs, and association meetings to meet people. Applying only through job boards is a very passive approach to job search.
- If they are unemployed, recommend that they volunteer in the community to meet people: Habitat for Humanity, a local food bank, a local shelter, boy/girls scouts, etc. Many business people also volunteer, and the volunteer work may become a referral for a paying job at some point.
- Most job postings and replies via email or text are bots. Provide motivation and confidence by explaining to the coachee that they shouldn’t take “rejection” personally.
- Encourage independence. Help the coachee as requested, but encourage them to conduct the job search, create a career management plan, and follow through.
The Realities
The job market is very challenging. Graduating from university with student debt and no employment prospects is discouraging for many. A proactive approach to a human-centered career management plan, with parents walking a step or two behind them, is a better approach. Parents need to be warned that controlling the job search can damage their young adult children’s chances of getting or keeping a job.
How Thrive! 2026 Can Boost Your $ucce$$
We offer the one tool that will set you apart: wisdom. Social media, apps, and standalone webinars just cannot match that value. Thrive2026! cuts through all the noise—but only if you know how to prepare for and use it well.
If you do, you’ll make more money than it costs to attend. Read that sentence aloud to yourself. And put your investment in the right context. It costs $624 to register. How much do you charge for a typical résumé? If it’s more than $700 (and it should be), you’ll recoup your investment if you can sell just one more résumé than you usually do. . .and you have about 365 days to do just that!
If you just show up, unprepared, you lose money, clients, status, and respect—all the things you work so hard to deserve. All the things that set you apart from AI alone.
Expectations:
When you heard about Thrive!, what came to your mind first? Were you looking forward to getting your “batteries recharged,” gathering innovative, profit-building ideas, getting some rare time to reflect on how you and your practice can grow?
Or…did you dread the “expense,” the “time away from your practice?” When you are on a journey, do you concentrate on the cost of travel or the rewards waiting at the destination?
In this article, I’ll try to enhance the latter and offset the former. For years, I practiced every one of the concepts you are about to read. As a result, each conference earned me more money than the entire cost of the event and usually paid for the next conference. I want you to have that kind of return on your investment.
Now is the perfect time to apply what you learn to reap the rewards in about 30 days, October 08 and 09. I’ve laid out things you can do before, during, and after this Thrive.
Now, before you go:
As soon as you can, set aside inviolable times to get the ROI you deserve. After all, you are more important than your most important client.
Invest in yourself. Envision your practice operating at the very best it could be. Describe that goal as specifically as you can. Now, honestly, describe your practice as it exists now. (No one will see what you write except for yourself.) The missing pieces will tell you which sessions you should attend, how you should get the most out of them, and invest what you have learned in the future.
Invest in tomorrow. It takes time to distill what you’ve learned so it fits your practice well. Block times after the conference right now. I recommend at least one hour for every session you attend. You may have to spread the self-development time over weeks. If you do not do this now, “important” things will steal not just your time, but the wisdom you paid for and deserve.
Below, you’ll see how to invest in the time you spend at Thrive! 2026.
Refine your brand in advance. Aim at your clients. Since most of them see or read the news or visit your website, or on social media channels, begin with a strong press release. You do write press releases or LinkedIn posts, right?
The important message in your releases: listeners and viewers can optimize their careers with wisdom not available anywhere else. Be sure to mention some of your key takeaways as they apply to your clients. As always, tell your audience what value they can gain. Never tell them how they can do that. They get that by engaging you.
After you’ve written your press releases, get even more mileage by incorporating them on your website and in your telephone messages:
“…I’m not available right now. I am mastering even better ways to serve job seekers just like you by attending the conference of the Professional Association of Résumé Writers and Career Coaches. When I return, I’ll give you the benefit of all I’ve learned to help you rise above the noise of AI, ‘keywords,’ and ‘core competencies’ to win the rewards of a satisfying career.”
Up to now, my suggestions are aimed at helping others. You can also help yourself. What, specifically, do you want out of this event? Take a moment to write direct questions to which you need answers. I suggest writing because it sharpens your thoughts. Consider this example to see a typical train of thought from the general to the specific.
General question: I have heard a lot of different stories about how AI will affect the job search. What’s coming next?
Specific question: How can I help my clients get ahead of their competition by using the latest AI tools to their advantage? What’s the likely increase in ROI for those I serve? How do I reflect that improved ROI in my pricing structure? In my marketing? On my website?
Once you have the questions written, think who might have the answers. (Does this sound like the kind of advice you offer job seekers about networking?)
Start here: https://www.thrive.show/schedule. Want to know how recruiters are using AI? Robin Reshwan’s “Job Search Strategy and Recruiter Insights in the Age of AI” is a must see for you.
Not sure about the best way to help your clients get paid what they’re worth? Michael Green and Karen Jackson’s “Salary Negotiation Strategies for Clients” has what you need.
You get the idea.
Arrive very well prepared:
Email your questions to the presenters before Thrive! 2026. Ask for a copy of their slides and handouts before the conference. Yes, I know, the handouts and slides will be available during and after Thrive! 2026. But waiting until then will swamp you with material all at once.
Tell presenters you have already paid to attend the Conference. Mark your questions right on the material they email you. That way you’ll be fully prepared to get the most value, even before the sessions begin.
With the sessions identified, there is still more to do. (Now you understand why I suggested you block time before you go). For each session, make a list of what you already know about the subject. This trick will uncover what you don’t know, what information you need from the speakers’ talks.
If time permits, attend sessions on subjects entirely new to you. We’re finding what you don’t know, but should know. (All the sessions will be recorded and available on the website.)
From time to time, review your list. Check it against the slides and handouts you got from the speakers. Have both copies of the slides and your lists with you at the presentations you’ve chosen. Use them as checklists to capture vital information on the spot. Finally, if speakers didn’t touch on the information you need, use your list to ask appropriate questions during the Q & A sessions.
Make sure you can communicate very well. Log in a little early to give you time to be sure your camera is ready and set the sound volume as needed.
While you are there:
Work your plan. Follow up with people who can answer your vital questions. Be on the lookout for others.
If you really want maximum impact, immediately after the day’s sessions, make time to refine your notes, quietly at your own pace. Concentrate on information that helps you. No need to focus on examples speakers use, unless they reinforce some action you should take.
After Thrive! 2026:
Capitalize on your investment. Refine your notes one more time. Pay particular attention to methods for increasing your productivity, your profits, or both. Moreover, schedule time, even before you leave, to put those methods into action after your return.
If you have questions, email the presenters right away while the concepts are clear in both your minds.
Commit to just one action first. That will keep you focused. Later, you can always tackle more.
And don’t forget to update your voicemail, your website, and outgoing email messages:
“…I’m helping job seekers just like you leverage the very latest information I mastered at a recent professional development conference. They are benefitting from the distilled wisdom of hundreds of years of experience available nowhere else. Now I’d like you to have those same advantages. The first and only step is easy. Email me your questions….”
I’ll cover the rest quickly for professionals like you:
- Of course, you’ll get out press releases before and after the event.
- Of course, you’ll get brief thank notes off to those who helped you. For those that went the extra mile, offer to write a recommendation on their LinkedIn profiles.
- Of course, you’re already anticipating the great ROI the Thrive! 2026 Conference will deliver.
Now you are ready to earn greater profits that come directly from joining us. That’s the best reason to attend Thrive!2026.
Still have questions? Reach out to PARWCC before you attend.
Positioning Executive Storytelling at a Different Altitude
One of the biggest interview mistakes I see senior-level candidates make is preparing stories that prove they can execute rather than stories that prove they can lead.
The traditional STAR narrative framework – and the many STAR-adjacent variants so many of us coaches use – lead to success stories with an intentionally narrow scope. It’s the point of the framework: to narrow in and focus on the competency that the story is designed to demonstrate. The STAR-based story is a structure that proves someone can do the work: a situation or challenge, an action taken, and a clean result at the end. For years that has been enough, and for most roles it still is. But once a candidate is interviewing for a director, VP, or C-suite seat, that same well-built story misses the mark of what interviewers are listening for. Candidates are telling stories that prove their competence. What they need are stories that prove they can be trusted with authority. It’s a different scope, at a different altitude.
That distinction is critical at the executive level. When a hiring committee interviews a mid-level candidate, they are mostly asking one question: can this person execute? When that same committee interviews an executive candidate, the question changes. They are asking whether this person’s judgment can be trusted, even when nobody is checking their work. A great STAR-style story answers the first question beautifully. It rarely answers the second one at all.
Executive interviews are as much about positioning as performance. Two candidates may have accomplished equally impressive things, but one is perceived as someone who executes strategy while the other is perceived as someone who shapes it. That perception often determines who advances. Intentionally shaping that perception and categorization can be just as important as describing performance when telling a success story.
To elevate the level of a client’s success narrative, I explore six key shifts through coaching questions: scope, ownership, judgment, stakeholders, stakes, and impact.
Widen the scope of the story.
A STAR-style story proves a candidate completed a task or solved a bounded problem inside their own role. An executive success narrative must show a decision that changed an outcome other people depended on, whether that is P&L impact, board confidence, or a risk the organization avoided at scale. The language used in the story often gives away the altitude they are interviewing at before the content of the story even lands. Words like “supported”, “executed” and “managed” describe someone doing good work inside a system built by others. Words like “decided”, “positioned”, “reframed”, and “shaped” describe someone influencing the direction of that system.
I ask clients to stop describing what they did and start describing what happened to the organization because they decided something. This is positioning in practice: the story itself is the evidence the interviewer will use to categorize this person as an operator or as a leader. The question I ask to get there is: what happened to the organization because you decided something?
Claim ownership.
Claiming ownership means clearly and confidently articulating your own value rather than assuming that greatness will be inferred by a successful outcome. Good leaders are generous in giving credit to others on the team. In a job interview, though, that may obscure ownership for leading a success.
Senior candidates, especially those who came up through collaborative cultures, often default to “we”. “We solved it. We aligned the team. We got through it.” That instinct comes from genuine humility and real team leadership, and I never want to coach it out of someone entirely. But an interviewer is not hiring “we”. At the executive altitude, interviewers need to hear specifically what this candidate was accountable for, who convened the room, who made the final call, who owned the risk if it went wrong.
The skill is saying “I” without erasing the team, and it takes practice to find that line. I ask clients directly: what specifically were you the one accountable for?
Describe judgment, not actions.
Mid-level stories can lean on process. I followed the steps, I hit the deadline, I solved the problem. Executive interviews don’t simply assess what a leader did. They assess how a leader thinks. Executive stories need to show reasoning under ambiguity, the tradeoffs a candidate weighed when there was no clean answer available. This is where I push clients hardest, because most of them have made genuinely hard calls and then flattened the story down to what they did instead of how they decided. I want to hear what they saw that other people in the room did not, so I ask it outright: what did you see in that moment that other people in the room were missing?
Detail who is in the story.
A conventionally framed STAR story often centers on a single manager, team, or audience. An executive narrative almost always involves competing stakeholders with different priorities. The candidate is usually influencing people who do not report to them. That thread, how someone moved a room they did not control, often matters more to an interviewer than the technical solution the candidate eventually landed on. I ask clients: whose competing interests did you have to reconcile, and who did you have to move without any authority over them?
Explain clearly what was at stake.
A STAR-style challenge is often a deadline or a difficult customer. An executive story needs real exposure behind it, something reputational, financial, legal, or strategic. Executive stories should also show composure when things didn’t go according to plan, because composure under real stakes tells an interviewer more than a flawless outcome ever could. I ask it as one question with two parts: What was at risk, and when things went off course, how did you recover?
Distinguish the impact.
A STAR-style story usually closes on a metric, a percentage, a number that went up. But executives permanently change how an organization operates. An executive narrative should close on a shift in position, how the market, the board, or the leadership team now sees the organization, or how differently this person’s judgment is trusted going forward. This is positioning showing up in the ending. The candidate is proving not merely that they delivered a result, but that their leadership changed how the organization thinks, operates, or makes decisions. The closing question I want a client to be able to answer is this: how is the organization, or how are you, positioned differently because of what you decided?
None of this means your existing story structure, whatever version you teach, is wrong. It just may not be built for this height. When I work with clients on these shifts, I have them keep their existing story notes in front of them and examine the story through each of these lenses: scope, ownership, judgment, stakeholders, stakes, and impact. Almost every client already has the raw material for a strong executive narrative hidden inside an execution story they have been telling for years. Most of the time, the executive story is already there. It just needs to be coached at a different altitude.
Speed Will Never Be Our Competitive Advantage
(An edited excerpt from the book “Confessions of a Résumé Writer”)
My buddy Andy Bridgeman is enjoying success from his first fiction novel, Fortunate Son. He recently published an article in Writer’s Digest called “My First Ideas Aren’t My Best—And AI Only Makes Them Worse”. Here are some highlights that resonated with me:
- “The more I interacted with AI, the more I could see the possibilities—the promise of making my life more efficient. But could it write? Should it write? I can hear your teeth grinding from here. I know. Just toying with the idea made me feel a little guilty. Of course, I shouldn’t let it write. I’m the writer. That’s my job.”
- “But, on the other hand, it’s just a tool, right? The ideas I give it are my ideas, coming from my unique understanding of the world. And there were already plenty of people on YouTube proudly letting AI write books for them. If it helped me write faster, my publisher would be pleased. My readers would be happy. And my bank account would be overjoyed.”
- “Here’s the problem with passing the pen over to artificial intelligence. Every writer knows where the battle takes place. Literary wars are won and lost at sentence level. That’s where the brutality is—the hand-to-hand combat. It is in that place where my ideas generate and my creativity sparks. It is where my muse will show up…if she shows up.”
- “Another problem? AI had praised all of my ideas. And, I, so desperate to hear a compliment, momentarily believed that I was brilliant. But here’s the thing. I know better. Life has shown me with great clarity that my first ideas are not my best ideas. And, if I’m being honest, neither are my second, third, or fourth. In my excitement to see words and sentences filling up the page, I lost sight of how my process works. AI had removed me from the depth of my story—the victory that comes from battling at the cursor.”
- “My value (and your value) isn’t in producing more words per hour—it’s in the specific way our minds work through problems, the unexpected connections we make when we’re building our sentences. When we’re in the flow. And, most importantly, when we’re stuck.”
- “Having AI remove my writing problem…is my biggest problem with AI. Speed will never be our competitive advantage as storytellers.”
- “I truly believe that the more technology we consume, the more we will yearn for authentically human stories—written by authentic humans. My stories. Your stories.”
- “So what did I learn in this brief test drive? Sorry AI, but I’m not letting you near my sentences. There, I will fight my own battles—writing slowly and inefficiently because writing is hard and, if I’m going to produce my best work, I must always lean into the ‘hard.’”
- “My hope is that the literature of our tomorrows will not exit off a smooth, artificially paved highway but arrive with tree branches in the bumper and mud on the tires and scratches and dents from smacking into all sorts of things in the night.”
Résumé writers, take note…he wasn’t just talking about fiction.
Thrive Together: Cutting Through the Noise in Career Services
Dear Friends,
Let’s have some real talk.
This has been a challenging time.
The job market is tough, it’s the wild west out there with frauds and fakes diminishing the reputation of ethical providers, and knowing who and what to trust has become like a game of “whack-a-mole.”
And that’s why I decided this was the year NOT to ask the membership to invest in travel expense, lodging expense, and dining expense. I decided this was the year for a virtual conference.
I know that when we meet in person that’s fun. But when we meet virtually, it’s more approachable. It’s easier for you to get there. It’s easier for us to expand our reach for speakers and bring more value to every hour we spend together virtually.
That’s also why we called this conference, “Thrive! Cutting Through the Noise.” Because our speakers and the content created isn’t about the chaos. It’s about the solutions to the shifting challenges we’re experiencing. No hand-wringing, no bs, no fear mongering.
This industry has survived technological changes, recruitment strategies that appear overnight and client expectations that are stratospherical. But in all of these changes, there is a constant: our strength is our ability to adapt and connect so that we can lead together.
There won’t be a more affordable opportunity for you to receive this kind of learning and connection. No one is doing what we’re doing. This isn’t a zoom call. It’s an elevated online learning and connection opportunity. Do you want to talk in real time to Lili Foggle about interviewing in the now? (I DO!) Do you want to chat with Diane Hudson about your coaching thoughts? (I DO!)
Thrive is the time.
Thrive is not just another industry conference; it is our collective launching pad for the future of career services. Whether you are an established veteran running a bustling practice or an emerging resume writer and coach building your client base, this event was designed with your growth in mind.
Here is why your presence at Thrive matters—and why you cannot afford to miss it:
- Cutting-Edge Professional Development: Our field is moving fast, particularly with the integration of AI, shifting market dynamics, and evolving personal branding strategies. Thrive brings together the brightest minds in the industry to deliver actionable sessions that you can immediately apply to your practice.
- Unrivaled Networking & Collaboration: Solopreneurs and organization leaders alike know how isolating this work can feel. Thrive creates a space to exchange ideas, share best practices, build strategic partnerships, and rediscover the energy that comes from being surrounded by peers who understand your daily triumphs and challenges.
- Elevating Your Value Proposition: The insights, tools, and frameworks you will gain at Thrive directly translate into higher value for your clients. When you invest in your own expertise, your clients reap the benefits—and your business grows as a result.
As professionals, we spend our days empowering others to take bold steps, invest in their futures, and unlock their full potential. It is time to apply that same dedication to ourselves.
Clear your calendar, make the commitment, and prepare to elevate your practice. I look forward to greeting each of you in person as we learn, innovate, and thrive together.
Visit Thrive.show and find out what you could be missing.
We got this. Let’s do it together and thrive.
Margaret Phares
The Hiring Slowdown Is No Longer Just a Feeling: What Career Professionals Need to Know About the July Job Market
For months, career coaches and résumé writers have heard the same thing from clients: This job market feels harder than the numbers suggest.
Candidates are applying to more positions, waiting longer for responses, moving through multiple rounds of interviews, and watching opportunities disappear or get put on hold. Meanwhile, the national unemployment rate has remained relatively low.
The latest labor market data may finally help explain that disconnect.
The July 2026 Employment Situation report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) showed that nonfarm payroll employment declined by 23,000 jobs in July. At the same time, BLS significantly revised its estimates for the previous two months. May’s job growth was revised from 129,000 to 63,000, while June was revised from 57,000 to just 20,000.
Combined, May and June employment was 103,000 jobs lower than previously reported.
That matters.
The labor market has not suddenly collapsed. Unemployment remains low, layoffs are relatively contained, and employers are still hiring. But the latest numbers provide stronger evidence that the U.S. has entered a much slower, more selective hiring environment—one that requires career professionals to adjust how we prepare clients for the search.
The Headline Numbers Don’t Tell the Whole Story
The unemployment rate stood at 4.1% in July, representing approximately 6.9 million unemployed Americans. On the surface, that still looks like a relatively healthy labor market.
But dig deeper into the numbers and the picture becomes more complicated.
The labor force participation rate was 61.4% in July and has fallen 0.7 percentage point since January. The employment-to-population ratio has also declined by 0.5 point since January. Meanwhile, approximately 1.8 million Americans have been unemployed for 27 weeks or longer, accounting for 25.5% of all unemployed workers.
Another 5.9 million people were outside the labor force but reported that they wanted a job.
For career professionals, this helps explain why the experience of our clients can feel dramatically different from a 4.1% unemployment rate.
The market isn’t defined primarily by widespread job loss. It is increasingly defined by limited movement.
Welcome to the Low-Hire, Low-Fire Labor Market
The latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey reinforces this picture.
At the end of June, there were approximately 7.4 million job openings nationwide. Employers made about 5.3 million hires, while 3.2 million workers voluntarily quit their jobs. Layoffs and discharges totaled 1.8 million.
The quit rate remained at just 2.0%, while the layoff rate stood at 1.1%.
In other words, employers aren’t dramatically cutting their workforces, but they aren’t aggressively expanding them either.
Indeed Hiring Lab has characterized the current environment as a labor market “stuck in still water.” Its June data showed job postings hovering around pre-pandemic levels, while hiring, quits, and layoffs remained subdued.
This creates a particularly difficult environment for job seekers.
When employees aren’t quitting, fewer positions open through normal turnover. When employers aren’t expanding, fewer new positions are created. And when companies do hire, they can afford to be more selective because candidates have fewer alternatives.
For an employed professional, this market may feel relatively stable.
For someone actively trying to enter or reenter the market, it can feel completely different.
Hiring Is Becoming Increasingly Uneven
Another important lesson from the July report is that there is no single “job market.”
Health care continued to add jobs in July, gaining approximately 22,000 positions, including 18,000 in ambulatory health care services.
Other sectors were much weaker.
Local government education lost 50,000 jobs. Retail trade declined by 19,000. Financial activities continued its downward trend, losing another 14,000 jobs in July and bringing total employment in the sector 121,000 below its May 2025 peak.
Employment showed little change in construction, manufacturing, information, professional and business services, transportation and warehousing, leisure and hospitality, and several other major industries.
That distinction should influence the conversations we’re having with clients.
Instead of asking, “Is this a good job market?” we need to help clients ask better questions:
- Where is demand growing for my expertise?
- How competitive is my occupation?
- Which industries are adding people?
- Which employers are investing?
- Are my skills aligned with the problems organizations are trying to solve?
A national unemployment rate cannot answer those questions.
Market research can.
Employers Can Afford to Be More Selective
The slower hiring environment also changes how candidates compete.
During the post-pandemic hiring surge, employers frequently had to move quickly. Candidates had options. Organizations were competing for talent, and qualified applicants could sometimes move from application to offer within weeks.
That leverage has shifted.
Today’s employers can often take more time, add interview rounds, compare more candidates, and wait for someone who closely matches their requirements.
That doesn’t mean candidates need to match every bullet in a job posting. But it does mean generic positioning has become increasingly ineffective.
A résumé that simply documents responsibilities is unlikely to stand out when an employer has dozens—or hundreds—of qualified applicants.
Our job as career professionals is to help clients articulate something much more compelling:
Why this candidate, for this role, solving these problems, right now?
That requires us to move beyond job descriptions and uncover measurable accomplishments, leadership impact, business outcomes, specialized expertise, and evidence of how the candidate creates value.
The Skills-Matching Problem Hasn’t Gone Away
One of the more interesting contradictions in the current labor market is that employers continue to report difficulty finding qualified workers.
According to the National Federation of Independent Business, 32% of small-business owners reported job openings they could not fill in June. Twenty-seven percent reported openings for skilled workers.
This is happening while job seekers simultaneously report difficulty finding work.
Those two realities can coexist.
The issue isn’t simply whether workers or jobs exist. Increasingly, it is whether employers can find candidates with the specific combination of skills, experience, industry knowledge, location, compensation expectations, and capabilities they want.
That makes skills alignment and positioning increasingly important.
Career coaches and résumé writers should be helping clients identify not only what they have done, but where their expertise intersects with current employer demand.
AI Is Becoming Part of the Employment Conversation
No discussion of today’s job market is complete without addressing artificial intelligence, but we should be careful not to oversimplify its impact.
AI is not responsible for every layoff or every difficult job search. However, there is growing evidence that it is influencing workforce planning.
The Federal Reserve’s July Beige Book reported that employers in the San Francisco District were generally maintaining current headcounts while continuing to invest in productivity-enhancing AI technologies.
Separately, Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported that AI was cited as the leading reason for announced job cuts in June for the fourth consecutive month. AI was associated with 14,029 announced cuts during June and more than 101,000 through the first half of 2026.
The larger question for workers may not be whether AI will “take their job.”
The more immediate question is whether organizations can accomplish additional work without adding as many employees.
For career professionals, that changes the conversation around AI literacy.
We should be helping clients identify how technology is changing their functions, where AI is augmenting their work, and how they can demonstrate that they know how to use emerging tools to improve productivity rather than compete against them.
Wage Growth Is Cooling, Too
The shift in employer leverage is also showing up in compensation.
Average hourly earnings reached $37.62 in July, representing 3.2% year-over-year growth.
The BLS Employment Cost Index tells a similar story. Private-sector wages and salaries increased 3.1% over the 12 months ending in June. But after adjusting for inflation, private-sector wages and salaries actually declined 0.4%.
Indeed’s Wage Tracker reported that advertised wages increased just 2.4% year over year in June and had been growing more slowly than inflation.
For coaches helping clients negotiate offers, this doesn’t mean salary negotiation is dead. It means negotiation needs to be grounded in current market conditions, industry benchmarks, the candidate’s value, and the organization’s needs—not assumptions carried over from the unusually tight labor market of several years ago.
What Should Career Professionals Be Telling Clients?
This is where our work becomes especially important.
A difficult market does not mean clients should panic, abandon their goals, or apply indiscriminately to hundreds of positions.
In fact, the current environment demands almost the opposite.
Clients need greater focus.
They need to understand their target market before launching a search. They need résumés that communicate outcomes rather than responsibilities. They need LinkedIn profiles built around relevant search terms and expertise. They need networking strategies that put them in conversations before positions are posted. And they need to be prepared to demonstrate their value clearly in interviews.
We should also be preparing clients for a longer timeline.
Someone who expects to secure a new role within four weeks may interpret eight or twelve weeks of searching as personal failure. Understanding the market helps us reset those expectations while keeping clients accountable for the parts of the search they can control.
And perhaps most importantly, we need to discourage the temptation to solve a difficult market with more applications.
If 50 generic applications aren’t working, 200 generic applications usually aren’t the answer.
Better targeting, stronger positioning, strategic networking, compelling career stories, and clear evidence of business value are.
The Market Has Shifted. Our Advice Should Shift With It.
The July jobs report does not signal that the U.S. labor market is collapsing.
The unemployment rate remains 4.1%. Layoffs remain relatively contained. Millions of jobs remain open. Health care and other pockets of the economy continue to hire. Small businesses are still reporting difficulty finding qualified talent.
But there is also no denying that hiring momentum has weakened considerably.
The downward revisions to May and June are particularly important because they tell us the slowdown has been happening longer—and more significantly—than the initial numbers suggested.
For career professionals, this is an important moment.
Our clients don’t need us to tell them the market is terrible.
They also don’t need us to reassure them that everything is fine.
They need us to help them understand where opportunity still exists and how to compete for it.
That is where great career coaching and professional résumé writing become even more valuable.
In a booming market, opportunity can sometimes compensate for mediocre strategy.
In a selective market, strategy matters.
The 4th Way to Grow a Business or Profession
In the Beginning
For most of my 30-year career, I taught that there are only three ways to grow a business (or profession). To give deserved credit, I first learned about the three ways at a day-long Tom Peters workshop (Best-selling author of “In Search of Excellence”).
Once I adopted the 3-step marketing approach, my company took off. And, best of all, it consistently created new ‘never-ending opportunities.’ If you can write a resume, you can write power-bios for top producers in real estate, finance, dental, and other professions. If you can teach winning interview techniques, you can teach winning sales and customer service strategies. You can create multiple income streams.
So I want to re-introduce the foundational concepts to growing a successful business or profession, as most thriving enterprises are based on optimizing them.
But there is a 4th.
If you can’t wait, scroll down to see the 4th way to grow a business and profession. But the 4th way won’t matter much until you understand and strategically prepare for the first three.
3 Ways to Grow a Business or Profession – Quick Review
#1) The first one is obvious. It’s increasing the number of customers or clients. This is the one method that almost everybody focuses the majority of their attention and money on. But the second and third strategies are actually where you have the greatest potential for leverage and growth.
#2) The second strategy is to increase your average transaction value. This simply means increasing the size of the sale and profit (continuing to try and increase profit margins is a given in all strategies). Today, it’s a rare occurrence when top practitioners take on a client and don’t add on services – upsell.
#3) The third strategy is increasing the frequency of purchase. This means you provide an array of services and products to get ‘repeat business’ from customers. This tends to be a stumbling block for most resume writers and career coaches because once the resume or coaching service is successfully concluded… then what?
Increasing the Number of Customers or Clients
There are untold ways to increase customers for resume writing and career coaching professionals: billboard and bus stop advertising, TV and radio advertising, Google and social media marketing, direct mail, networking, word-of-mouth, sponsorships… the sky’s the limit. But the sky is not the limit when it comes to a marketing budget.
That said, the most successful methods today (and this could change tomorrow), for those operating in our space include: 1) Referral Marketing, 2) Public Presentations, 3) Online and Offline Influencing.
In all my years of trying to wrap my head around marketing in our profession, I’ve found that most successful people and businesses have no significant marketing expenses. This is because most of their business comes from a strong, consistent pipeline of referrals.
Public presentations and online/offline influencing are similar. It’s about being ‘visual’ and ‘influential’ to targeted audiences. This is achieved via podcasting, blogs, media and influencing appearances (local, regional, and national), books, and articles, etc. The key here is to have something compelling, different, and memorable to share with audiences. (Note: This strategy is the most expensive of the three).
Increasing the Average Transaction Value
Again, there are many ways to increase the average transactional value. You buy a new suit and the salesperson adds on a few shirts, a couple ties, a pair of shoes, and underwear that’s on sale this week. Your $500 suit now costs over $1,000.
And BTW, Flo is not the first person to promote the concept of ‘bundling.’ Resume writers were among the first back in the 1980’s. “A resume is $50. But if you purchase a cover letter as well, it’s $75 – saving you $25.” An ancient example of increasing the average transactional value in our profession.
Increasing Frequency of Purchase:
The challenge in the resume and career coaching space is that when clients have their finalized resumes and/or have completed their coaching services, and have landed a job… why would they return?
Do career coaches provide services such as: ‘How to Grow in Your New Job’ or any type of life-coaching services to keep active clients and increase sales in the future? It’s great to have newsletters and be active on social media. But the goal with this strategy is to increase service and product menus to enhance growth and profitability.
So increasing frequency doesn’t mean you hope your clients will soon be fired, so they come back to update their resumes. It means they’ve been impressed with you, so what other services do you offer that they are willing to pay you for? (This strategy assumes strong ‘client retention skills,’ – as no one returns if dissatisfied).
The 4th way to grow your business and profession
Rebranding: Name and Identity Changes that Define the Future
Here’s the challenge: As the ‘job search’ space metamorphosizes into an AI-driven future, the risk is not that resumes or career coaching disappears entirely, but that resume writing, career coaching, and employment practitioners will have to add all new services and, thus, don’t see themselves in their name anymore.
I recall a time when my business card (yes, decades ago) said ‘Certified Resume Professional,’ at a time when 80% of my business and services I marketed were non-resume related services. In this case, it was time to rebrand my identity.
As noted in my May article, I believe resume writers and career coaches will disappear pretty much, and transition into career (workplace) strategists / architects. AI will do the initial resume and provide preliminary (even advanced) career coaching strategies.
It’s already happening, so career strategists and architects will focus on:
- Decision-making and conscious workplace designing
- Creating algorithmic ‘professional identities’ (See my May Spotlight issue – it’s the future !)
- Career and competitive positioning
- Personal branding and customization
- Optimizing online digital footprint
- Talent marketplace navigation
- Personal reputation management
- How to ride the emotional roller coaster
The Important Question
The key question isn’t whether AI is changing the industry. It is. The important question to ask is whether the name of a company, organization, or professional title accurately reflects the value it delivers to its customers.
Also, is the name attractively memorable so it stays top-of-mind over the competition? Today, a company or organization should consider rebranding when their name describes:
- … a service that has lost its unique brand identity, and becomes interchangeable with its competition.
- … a company that has grown well-beyond its original services being offered.
- … a company that’s name is equated with obsolescence, or is on the verge of becoming outdated.
- … a misunderstanding of what the company actually does and the services it offers its clients.
- … a situation where it limits expansion into new, necessary-to-survive segments and services.
- … its future positioning is fundamentally different from its past positioning.
- … an absence of the ‘magnetic effect’ (very little excitement created around the products and services).
Not So Fast – Legacy Names
On the other hand, a name change is probably not necessary when businesses and professionals want to keep legacy names that outweigh their naming limitations. For example, Google is still called Google. It didn’t change to, Keyword Searches Are Us. Amazon sells far more than books. Microsoft is no longer primarily about software. And the Jay Block Companies, LLC, didn’t even tell you what the company did! But these companies created legacy value – strong recognition, good reviews and search rankings, well established referrals, and industry credibility. So… no need to rebrand.
I have often been asked, if I were starting a company today, what would I call it? Certainly not The Jay Block Companies, LLC. Today, based on what I envision for the profession, it would be something like: ‘Workplace Decisions for an Enriched Life.’ And my title: Workplace Strategist.
Summary
I believe everyone must take time daily to anticipate and plot the future. Growing a business always required strategy, but today the future is unrecognizable. AI changes the whole scenario. There are mainly four ways to grow a business. And today, all four strategies need to be examined and reexamined… weekly, if not daily.
Cheese and Change Management
You may already be familiar with the famous business management book that gives advice about moving cheese. This is not that. But I don’t like when people move my cheese. Actually, the issue isn’t always people moving my cheese — I’m not generally married to any one location. It’s more the purposeless moving of my cheese that I find so aggravating.
I was recently talking to someone experiencing a lot of changes in their system, and they remarked that the only constant in life is change. I understand this and most cliches about the inevitability of change, and at different parts of my life I’ve even been the radical change leader.
Change is often necessary. But orchestrating change isn’t entirely about making the shift. You should also be ensuring it’s actually necessary. Otherwise, you’re changing and disrupting for the sake of change itself, not to make things better. Driving in Florida you see plenty of this, with drivers making it a constant guessing game of where they’ll go next, since signaling is such a rare sight.
In general, stable and predictable practices for business are the ideal. People should be able to enter their workspace and understand how to do their jobs and use their tools. A good leader will minimize disruptions to this system unless they’re absolutely necessary.
I’m currently on a task force for a project, and it’s like herding cats. It’s fascinating how we can all agree on a path, take a bathroom break, and when we come back, we’re all somehow traveling down totally different routes. Everyone gets pulled into the new because it’s interesting, and we end up spending even more time trying to find our way back to the good path that we were already on.
Strong leaders keep things consistent except when things must change, as indeed many things must at one time or another. A leader is a protector of systems, serving to keep them normal for as long as possible. When change does come your way, whether it’s clearly signaled or barreling out of nowhere at you like a Florida driver, a leader’s strength is reflected in how they manage their response.
If you’re lucky enough to get a clear signal, then it’s your responsibility to inform your organization of what’s coming and what it will likely mean for them. If it’s a crazy swerve out of nowhere, then all you can do is grab the wheel and hope your brakes are in good shape — that, too, is an important part of leadership.
Even when things are crazy, a leader can’t show how upset or unsettled they are, even when they’re really upset and unsettled. Instead, your job is to provide stability in the chaos. You can empathize with your people about the uncertainty and acknowledge how nuts things are, but you also need to assure them that there’s a path forward and you’re working to find it.
Yes, change is absolutely inevitable. It comes for all businesses and systems and communities. It’s how leaders manage through the process of change that makes them leaders and maintains as much stability as necessary as they proactively lead when change becomes necessary.
PARWCC Statement August 26 2026
Friends,
News from PARWCC!
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